Pages

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Poor Catholic youth pastor Mathew Abid. Pleading guilty to criminal sexual conduct means you must go to prison. I bet you really regret molesting that 15-year-old girl. Well, if you don't regret it now, you will in a few months.

The measure of a person is in what they do. You may be a pastor. You may have a heartfelt and tragic personal story. You may even run your own church. But when you treat people like shit, the battle is lost. You are a bad person and you failed in your mission. We see the God you claim to represent in your actions. And honestly, your God is unattractive.

Self appointed pastor Alois Bell is a bad person. If you don't believe me, read her story.

The alleged crime occurred at Spring Creek Baptist Church. Back in 2009 youth pastor Jonathon Giles was arrested on charges that he had sexual contact with several teen girls.

Giles was said to have exchanged inappropriate text messages before and church services with one 16-year-old girl. He was also accused of asking a 17-year-old girl for sex and touching the breast of another minor teen. After the investigation revealed Giles' text message activity to the young women, he resigned from his position with the church.

Wednesday, January 09, 2013

Ronald Pyles, 59, and the pastor of the Victory Harvest Ministry in North Jackson, is facing charges of two counts of rape and gross sexual imposition for raping a 20-year-old developmentally disabled woman at his shelter in 2010.

Prosecutors said the alleged victim had been living at the Victory Harvest Ministry following the death of a relative. Charges said the rapes occurred during a six-month period between October 2010 and April 2011.

Um… I think Pyles is on his way to now prison too. It's been a hard week for pastors. Pyles ws convicted on one found of rape and one count of gross sexual imposition.

The victim testified.

Other witnesses included the woman's case workers from the mental retardation agency and children's services.

"I think that she was very ashamed of things that had happened. This was a man that she really admired, this was a man that she looked to as a father figure," one case worker testified.

I'm pretty sure than when a developmentally disabled woman gets on the stand and says her pastor raped her, the defendant is a dead man. Prison will be hard on Ronald Ryles; very hard.

The trial of Arthur Schirmer, profiled here, is just getting underway. The former Methodist pastor stands accused of murdering his wife. The case looks pretty tight. I think Schirmer is just a few weeks from a long visit to prison.

Opening statements are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. today in the trial of Schirmer, 64, the former pastor of Reeders United Methodist Church in Jackson Township accused of murdering his second wife, Betty Jean Schirmer, 56, in 2008. Authorities contend he loaded the dying woman into the couple's 2007 P.T. Cruiser and staged a low-speed car crash on state Route 715 to help substantiate what the Monroe County District Attorney's office holds was nothing more than an elaborate cover story.

The trial may last as long as three weeks, and some 40 witnesses are expected to take the stand. Meanwhile, Schirmer is also awaiting trial in Lebanon County for the 1999 murder of his first wife, Jewel Schirmer, 50.

Cases like this one allow me to build a body of evidence to refute the notions the pastors are holy men, and that being a Christian makes one moral. Both assertions are nonsense. Pastors who murder are a rare breed, but Schirmer is not unique. There are many others. In most cases like this, sex and infidelity are often the motive. It is true in this case.

State Police Trooper William Maynard's investigation into the suicide quickly discovered that Musante's wife, Cindy Musante, 47, was involved in an extramarital affair with her boss and pastor, Arthur Schirmer.

The good man of God was banging his secretary at the time of his wife's death. His secretary's husband killed himself on the pastor's desk. Move along folks. There is nothing to see here.

Former Baptist youth pastor Brandon James Carter accepted a plea deal that will put him in prison for less that two years for kidnapping and taking indecent liberties with a 13-year old girl. He molested the girl while she was asleep.

He was sentenced to less than two years in prison. Once released, Carver will be on probation for nearly three years and be added to the Sex Offender Registry for 30 years.

Carter was arrested in March 2012. At the time he was serving as youth and music minister at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Cherryville. The allegations against Carter were separate from the church, but he was asked to resign after his arrest.

Monday, January 07, 2013

My wife asked me this questions when she walked in the door after work. My response was from the heart. "Ah hell… no fucking way." I loved Huell Howser. I loved his shows, his personality and his friendliness. I never had the pleasure of meeting him, but I'm sure he was a good guy. There is no way to fake what he brought to his viewers. R.I.P. Huel Howser.

Matthew 7:16 - You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?

I think of Matthew 7:16 every time I read about a church doing the wrong thing. It reinforces that, although people claim to be Christians, they often do not act like it. Especially if it involves money or sex… or both. Take the actions of Victory Christian Center, a mega church out of Tulsa. They are asking for the dismissal of a civil suit by the mother of a 13-year-old rape victim.

According to the Associated Press, the Victory Christian Center will argue in a hearing on Monday that the child’s mother is not entitled to any monetary relief under the law. She is seeking more than $75,000 in damages.

The suit accuses employees at the center of not reporting the attack by Chris Denman, a former church janitor.

I posted on the case in September under the title, Megachurch. Megabusiness. Begaproblem. The case was a stunning example of corporate stupidity. The church clearly did not report the rape. It's already in evidence. They own this mistake.

A 13-year-old girl was raped in a stairwell by a church employee. At least two other children were abused and one other employee has been arrested. Church officials knew about the abuse and kept it quiet for two weeks. Daugherty knew about it herself and did not report it. Her excuse was that she had relied on the official administrative process and trusted that her employees would do the job correctly. The police did not charge her, but did charge four other members of the church, including Daugherty’s son and daughter-in-law, who were charged with failing to report. Daugherty should have been charged too.

The church is at fault. They may not have raped the child, but they clearly handled the post-rape situation improperly. They are responsible at least in some small measure for what happened to the victim. What would a good Christian do here? Would they take responsibility and pay the $75k, or would they claim innocence and tell the victim to piss off? I don't need to tell you what they are doing. Right?